Westover Family's Chinese Adventure

It's a Small World

2015-03-20T08:25:00.000-07:00

When you hear the song "It's a Small World" in China, you know the street sweeper truck is coming and that you'd better move if you don't want to get wet. When you hear a similar tune in Taiwan, it means that the garbage truck is coming, and you only have a few more minutes to take your trash (rubbish) out. In America, this tune means that the ice cream truck is coming. (One of the many reasons I love America.) But, no matter where you are in the world, this tune is associated with Disney and all of the magic and beauty of cultures around the world. During our time in China, I truly learned the meaning of "It's a Small World after all".

We were fortunate enough to get to do some traveling at Christmas time, just before the craziness of our move settled in. We traveled to Taiwan and Thailand. It was amazing how many people we ran into that we have connections with. While in Taiwan, we had the opportunity to meet and get to spend time with my sister-in-law's cousins. We also met up with a family that had recently relocated from Shanghai to Taiwan. I won't bore you anymore, but the list goes on and on with the people we ran into in Taiwan. Truly a small world. We had the same type of experience as we traveled to Thailand and ended up running into a family from Nanjing International School in the hotel lobby where we were both staying. It's amazing just how small this big world is.

As we recently relocated our family to America, Minnesota to be specific, we've found connections once again. This was not a planned move, but it was the right move. Best Buy sold the company they owned in China, and relocated us in just a little over a month's time. In the few short weeks that we have been here, we have already received numerous blessings and confirmations that this is where we are supposed to be right now.

This has been an extremely crazy time, not only are we in the middle of a move with 7 children and living in a hotel, but we are also preparing to send our oldest daughter on a mission for our church on March 25th. I have no idea how we would've completed this move without her help. The Lord was very mindful of us as He assigned a departure date for Mikayla. The Lord was also very mindful of Mikayla and the people here in Minnesota. I have seen amazing things happen for Mikayla in the time that we have been living here. One of the most exciting opportunities that she has had is that she met a missionary from Taiwan (where she will be serving) and has gotten to help teach a recently converted family from mainland China.

I can't believe that Mikayla will be leaving us for 18 months in less than a week. I'm not sure that I'm ready to let her go, but I know it's the right thing to do. I had a difficult time leaving her in America for University this last fall as we headed back to China. When she received her mission call, I felt great comfort knowing that finally she would be closer to us as she served in Taiwan and we lived in China, but this was not the Lord's ultimate plan. The Lord needs us in Minnesota right now, and He has done all that He can to comfort me thru this transition. The Lord gave me the opportunity to go to Taiwan and see where Mikayla will be serving and the people she will be serving with. He has let Mikayla experience where we will be living while she is in Taiwan. He has given me the opportunity to spend a lot of time with Mikayla during this move and to see what an amazing woman she has become and how prepared she is to serve. This has definitely not been the typical mission preparation time. In fact, Mikayla has given 3 mission farewell talks because she has lived in 3 wards/branches since she received her mission call. It might not be typical, but it's all working out.

It truly is a "small world" for which I'm grateful because this means that I will have the opportunity to see all of my amazing friends from around the world once again. Who would've thought that a few years ago I would now be blogging about my friends from around the world? Certainly not me. In China, I was able to meet and become friends with people that lived less than an hour from me in Utah to people that are from the other side of the world. (So, crazy that we had to go clear to China to meet our Davis County friends.) I feel so blessed and am eternally grateful for the friendships that I have with so many wonderful people. "It's a Small World after all", and I'm so glad that I get to be a part of it.

Alauna

I'll Go Where You Want me to Go.

2015-02-07T06:35:00.000-08:00

I’ll go where you want me to go. These are the words of a popular hymn in our church. This hymn is typically sung as missionaries prepare to leave for a place that they did not choose, but was assigned by inspiration from the brethren at the church headquarters.

The words to this hymn have been going through my head over and over. Maybe because we are on the move again, and again not by our choosing. When we came to China I was the only one that was 100% excited about it. We prayed about it as a family and each person felt it was the right thing to do, but they still were not excited about it.

Now after many tears the past few days we are spending our last night in China. No one wants to leave. We love it here, we are thriving here, we have built deep relationships here. But if we truly believe the words to this hymn that we have collectively sung hundreds if not thousands of times then we need to go.

And so tonight is our last night in China and tomorrow at 4am we will wake up and begin the journey of thousands of miles with 27 suitcases, 9 backpacks, 2 car seats, a stroller and a port-a-crib in tow. About 25 hours later we will be heading to our new home in Chaska, Minnesota (Temp housing until the end of March and then move into our new house).

In church and the scriptures we are taught that faith requires action, and through that action we will receive a witness and our faith becomes stronger. We are moving to the Minneapolis area because we feel like it is where our family needs to be at this time. So amid all the craziness and madness of moving a family of nine half way around the world we have an incredible feeling of peace. We are doing what we need to be doing. We have been immensely blessed for moving to China, and I have no doubt that we will continued to be blessed in our new adventures in Minnesota.

I realized that we have not blogged for almost a year. The past few days as I have had some quiet time I have had idea after idea for blog posts come to my mind. (These posts will come in the near future.) Mostly, for our own benefit to remember the amazing experience that we have had here in China and to remember how much our lives have been blessed by listening to the promptings of the Spirit we had as a family to move to China.

As our family prepared to come to China I told our kids it would be the most difficult thing and the best thing our family had ever done. Both of these statements are true. And for this, I am forever grateful.

Boyd

2014-05-17T16:48:00.001-07:00

2014-05-17T16:40:00.000-07:00

For Mothers Day Alauna wanted to take a photo of the family and one with her and our 7 kids. We grabbed the tripod, the camera and headed to the back yard to take a couple of photos. With seven kids not many things are very easy. This simple picture was no exception. :) I just started snapping pictures as the craziness unfolded. While life may be a bit crazy it is always worth a laugh. I have looked through these pictures dozens of times and I laugh every single time. Our family may keep you on your toes, but we will always provide a laugh or two. I can't imagine life any other way.

Trevon is Baptized in China

2014-03-14T03:33:00.001-07:00

Sunday March 9, 2014 was an awesome day. Trevon got baptized as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He was baptized is a swimming pool at the Frasier Apartments. Jerry and Yvonne Yu live there and they are able to arrange the baptism being held there. It was such a blessing, for me to be able to baptize him and confirm him. He is such a good boy and it was a really special day.

It was a very long day. Alauna and I were up late on Saturday night getting things ready. By the time we got to bed it was after midnight and then we woke up at 5:30 to make sure we were ready to leave by 7 to get to the baptism on time. We had three college students staying with us for the weekend and also Alauna’s cousin David and Jenny Benson and their son Charlie. It was so nice to have David and his family with us that weekend. We had Craig and Sue Peterson as well as Tracy Crump meet us at our house to help get everyone to the baptism.

The pool was about 40 minutes away from our house and we had the baptism service before our regular Sunday service so it made for an early start. Our branch has not had a lot of children baptized in it so they did not have any white clothing. So Trevon had a pair of white pants and a white shirt tailor made for his baptism. He looked so good. He also got a new suit made as well and looked handsome.

It’s always tough to be away from family and friends when we have special events. This was no exception. It was very nice to David, Jenny and Charlie here. It was also very overwhelming with the amount of support received from our Nanjing Branch Family. We had almost 60 people at the baptism from our church. It took most of the people 30-60 minutes to get to the baptism. We felt very loved and supported by everyone.

The baptism was a great experience. The pool was a lap pool and when we climbed in it was a bit deep. Trevon could barely touch the bottom. I was holding him up to keep his head above water. The other side of the pool as a bit more shallow so we walked over to the other side lifting up and going under the lane markers as we went. The other side was only slightly shallower and Trevy had to stand on his tiptoes to keep his head above water. Trevon was probably the easiest to make sure he was complete immersed because he was already 90% underwater. It is always such a special experience to be able to baptize our children and see them come out of the water clean and pure.

After the baptism Trevon and I were in the dressing room and had a special moment. We discussed about how at that moment he was perfect. That all his mistakes and sins had been forgiven because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We also talked about how even though he wanted to stay perfect he would make mistakes but through repentance he could be forgiven. We also talked about after he receives the Gift of the Holy Ghost he would have a constant companion to help him make good decisions and help keep him safe.

After we changed we went back to the clubhouse where everyone was congregated. While we were changing Alauna had everyone write his or her thoughts for Trevon on a postcard. It was so nice for Trevon to have these postcards with all these thoughts written for him. That night after everything settled down Trevon and I spent time reading every card. He loved it. It was so nice to have all that support written for him. It will be something he will cherish forever. We confirmed him and gave him the Holy Ghost. Greg Ferney, Craig Peterson, Jasper Toomba, Jerry Yu and David Benson helped me to confirm him.

That afternoon we had an open house at our house for Trevon. We had about 50 people come over and had a great meal of BBQ pork (crockpot not smoker), salads, fruits, chips and some great deserts. We had a lot of support from a lot of people to have enough food for everyone. It was so nice to have everyone come over celebrate with Trevon and just relax and enjoy time together.

It was an amazing day. We are so proud of Trevon and his decision to be baptized and follow the Savior. We pray he continues to make good decisions and grow and develop. He is such a good kid. At the end of the day we were exhausted and so happy. I tried to write this blog that night after everything settled down and I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I fell asleep after just a few sentences. It is not always easy being in China, but this day was a perfect day.

Life's little miracles

2014-02-26T18:35:00.000-08:00

Today is a difficult day for me. It has been 7 years since my mom passed away, and I miss her every day. There have been so many times that I have wanted to talk to her about the difficulties of China and raising 7 children. There have been so many times that I've wanted to share the joy of one of my childrens' accomplishments. Today I want to reflect on some of the miracles that the Lord has given to me to help me through the loss of my mom.
My mom felt she would pass away in February. Her mom and dad both passed away in their birth months. My mom's birthday is February 2nd. As the end of February approached, and my mom was still with us, we all hoped we would have one more year with her. But now as I look back, the Lord let my mom stay with us as long as He could. He let her stay with us until the very end of the month. He could have so easily taken her sooner, but He allowed us to have every possible moment with her. It was not an easy month for her. She was in extreme pain, but with the Lord's help, she fought to stay with us as long as she possibly could.
Boyd has asked me several (billion) times over the past years if I would consider moving to China. My response was always "NO!!!!". Part of the reason for my answer, besides the fact that I'm a scaredy cat and a home body, is that I couldn't leave my mom and dad. I couldn't leave my mom when she was so sick, and then once she passed, I couldn't leave my dad alone. I knew my sisters would take good care of my dad, but I still couldn't leave him.
Finally, I told Boyd "yes" to China. I struggled with the idea of moving to China, but I knew the Lord had a plan and a purpose in sending us here. I still was uncertain of leaving my dad though, and I prayed that he would be taken care of. The Lord sent Marilyn to take care of my dad. He sent one of his choice daughters, that loves my dad with all of her heart. It has not always been an easy journey, for everyone involved. (How can it be when you have 3 emotional girls involved who miss their mom with all of their hearts?) I know it's the right journey though. Marilyn makes my dad happy again.
I pray that my sisters will find comfort and peace on this difficult day. They are amazing women that always astonish me with their strength and wisdom. They are wonderful mothers, wives and especially sisters. I'm extremely blessed to have them in my life. They are certainly one of the most important miracles in my life. The Lord knew I would need them by my side to help me through all of lives trials. I love how they always remind me of my loving mother through things they do or say. I love you Lisa and Laurie!! Thank you for being my best friends!
I know the Lord is always there for us. Our path will not be easy, nor would we want it to be. Without trials, our lives would be empty. We cannot feel extreme joy without knowing extreme pain. We cannot feel extreme happiness without feeling extreme sorrow. The Lord has a plan for each of us, and if we work hard to follow and obey Him, we will be blessed, maybe not in the way we'd like, but certainly in the way that is right.
Alauna

Made in China...Baby Liam is here.

2013-10-06T08:52:00.000-07:00

This post has been a long time coming. On June 6th, we were blessed to have Liam Benson Westover join our family. He was born heathly and was 3.69kg and 52cm long. We are so glad he is here with us.

Having a baby in China was definately a different experience. In the end it was a very positive experience but there were a lot of unknowns along the way. We knew that there was one more little one to join our family. Even after moving to China we continued to feel that there was one more. It took a lot of faith and courage on Alauna's part to have a baby here. Even though there are billions of babies that have been born here in China there was a lot of unknown as we decided to have another baby.

We went to our doctor at the local ISOS clinic in Nanjing. After we told the doctor that we were expecting and confirmed it with a test the first question we ask was if we wanted the baby. Of Course! we wanted the baby. Her next comments gave us a glimpse of what we could expect. She asked if we could go to the US to deliver the baby. If not the US then Hong Kong and if not Hong Kong then Shanghai, but she advised and strongly encouraged us NOT to deliver the baby in Nanjing. We were a bit uncertain about her strong thoughts on having the baby in Nanjing, as we have multiple friends that have had babies in Nanjing. After further discussions with her we realized that her concern was less about the delivery and more about if there were complications after the delivery. After feeling like we understood the risks we decided that we would have the baby in Shanghai.

We set up an appointment with Dr. Angela Thompson at Shanghai United Family Hospital. We made the first of many trips to Shanghai to meet with her. We were pleasantly surprised when we met her. She went to medical school at the University of Utah and even though we just met her it was nice that we had something in common. She was really good with sharing the risks and what we could do to mitigate the risks. She understood the frustrations and challenges with having a baby in China and I think overall she did a great job preparing us for having a baby in China.

One area that we did not agree with here was the timing of moving to Shanghai. She wanted Alauna there at week 36-37. With 6 kids at home that was going to be very difficult for Alauna to be in Shanghai for a month on her own before the baby came. We did agree that Alauna would be induced a week early so that would help a bit. The reason she wanted us there was in case Alauna went into labor early. Once she went into labor there was no chance of making it to Shanghai. We were not going to be getting on a train with Alauna in labor so if it happened early she would have the baby in Nanjing. We decided that Alauna would go two weeks early and spend a week by herself and then I would come the week the baby was due. After thinking more on this, Alauna didn't feel comfortable with the idea of being in Shanghai alone 8.5 months pregnant. If she had issues, she wanted me there. She did not want to be in labor trying to get a cab or walking to the hospital. So we decided that we would go to Shanghai the week before Liam was due. We were scheduled for induction on Thursday June 6th. We went the weekend before he was due.

One of the reasons we struggled with Alauna going to Shanghai so early was figuring what we would do with the other kids while Alauna was in Shanghai and I was at work. Fortunately we were able to have Priscilla Smith Westover (Boyd's sister-in-law) come stay with us for 3 weeks. That was a huge blessing to have her come and be with the kids while we went to Shanghai. When Alauna, Declan and I went to Shanghai to pick her up we all planned on going to the airport to get her and then go back to the hotel together. Alauna wasn't feeling well so we decided we would go check in and drop Alauna and Declan off at the hotel and I would go get Priscilla. We walked to the taxi line to get a cab to get to the hotel. The line was super long. At least an hour plus wait. So we decided we would use one of private cars that are always at the airport or train stations. They are convenient because you don't have to wait, but you pay for it. We spent about 15 min in the taxi line negotiating with the lady. She is trying to get us to pay 3-4 times what a cab would cost by selling convenience and not having to wait. We are trying to make her think we weren't in a hurry and willing to wait the hour plus for a cab. Finally after much negotiation we settled on a price to get to the hotel. We left the taxi line and followed her to the car. She wasn't the driver, just the negotiator. The driver was outside. They took us to the exit to meet up with the driver. The only problem was that the exit was blocked with large garbage cans that were lying down on their side and chained together. I guess the train station didn't want people using this exit. We climbed over the garbage cans (remember that Alauna is 38 weeks pregnant) and made it to the car. We got Alauna and Declan checked into the hotel and I had the same driver take me to the airport and wait for me there to bring me back. I got to the airport right as Priscilla came out of the exit from customs. It was perfect timing.

We spent the next day with Priscilla in Shanghai and then headed back to Nanjing. We spent the next few days in Nanjing and then we headed to Shanghai. Liam was due on Thursday and we went to Shanghai the Saturday before. We saw the doctor on that Saturday and everything was looking good. Liam had been breech on our previous visits and he was now turned so we just had to wait until he decided to come or Alauna was induced in a few days. Alauna and I stayed in Shanghai and took advantage of the time with no kids. It was great. It was a mini vacation before Liam came. We watched a lot of movies, and ate a lot of good food. We went to quite a few sites during that time. We went to the top of Shanghai World Financial center. It was awesome. It is over 1500 feet up. It was a lot of fun. We also saw the Jade Buddha in Shanghai and the Shanghai Circus World Acrobats. The acrobats were amazing. I loved watching them. Their show kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. It was a great time.

June 6th came without Liam coming on his own. So we walked (no taxi) to the hospital. We got checked in and went to the labor and delivery room. I was surprised and amazed at the size of the room. I think out of the seven kids this was the biggest labor and delivery room we have had. It was nice to have such a big room. The hospital assigned us a nurse/midwife. This seemed normal. With all our other kids we typically had a nurse that looked after us. The difference here was that she did not leave the room. We arrived in the morning around 8am and Liam was born at 8:55pm and she didn't leave the room except for about 15-20 minutes to go get something to eat. She even asked us if it was OK if she left to go eat. She mostly let us be. She would check Alauna's vitals as needed. When baby Liam was getting close to coming the doctor came in and everything was going smoothly. The nurse was very assertive and she was trying to take control and do it her way. The doctor and her battled it out and finally the nurse let the doctor take the lead. When Liam was finally born, his umbilical cord was tied in a knot, wrapped around his neck, his arm and his body. He was quite the little acrobat before he was born. The doctor said it was pretty rare that the umbilical cord was tied in a knot and told us to make sure we got a picture of it.

When Liam was 2 days old we had his "baby hospital photos" taken. In China, this was passport photos. Your eyes have to be open on a passport photo. This is not an easy task with a 2 day old baby.

We had Liam on a Thursday night, and we were not allowed to leave the hospital until Sunday night because they wanted to make sure Liam had all of his tests and shots done before we left. One of the shots couldn't be done until he was 72 hours old. They waited until he was exactly 72 hours old and then finally let us go. So, we were finally able to leave the hospital around 9:30 pm on Sunday, As we walked out of the hospital (no wheelchair), we tried to find a taxi. We were loaded down with a new baby, suitcase, car seat/stroller, flowers, and other things from the hospital. We couldn't find a taxi, so we started walking. We kept trying to get a taxi, but they were already all full. So, we walked to the hotel. It was crazy to walk to and from the hospital with our seventh child. In America, you can't even walk to your car. You are taken to your car in a wheelchair. There is no way you'd be allowed to walk "home".

On Monday, we took Liam's "hospital photos" to the American Embassy and applied for Liam's passport. We also got an American birth certificate for Liam. So, he has a Chinese and an American birth certificate. We also took the train back to Nanjing on Monday. We were careful to keep him covered on the train because the people in China love babies and always want to touch them and hold them. This was the first time the kids got to see Liam. It was weird not having the kids come to the hospital to see their new brother. It was so much fun seeing how excited the kids were to meet their new brother and to see how much they already loved him. It was especially fun to watch our sweet little Declan get so excited to be a big brother. He just wanted to hold Liam and love him. It was like watching your kids on Christmas morning or enjoying a day at Disneyland.

Every time we have a baby I am amazed by Alauna. This time was no exception. It was something that I can not use words to describe. I have always know that Alauna is an amazing woman. This time, however, I saw something in Alauna that I have never seen. It was a look in her eye that I will never forget. It was a look of fear, a look of exhaustion, a look of pain. It was a look of confidence, determination, and unconquerable spirit. I have always known that Alauna is an amazing woman and while she often doubted herself there was nothing she couldn't do. This moment confirmed that to me. That look on her face told me that there was nothing she couldn't do. There have been many amazing women in history and I would put Alauna at the top of the list. I am so blessed to have Alauna as my wife. She is an amazing mother as well. We are very blessed to have our seven children.

We have loved having Liam in our family. He is such a happy baby. He is growing and loves to smile. He loves being part of our family and you can tell that he can't wait to get up and run around with his older brothers.

Boyd and Alauna

We saw these guys and asked what they were doing.
They said they worked in a Steak Resturant.
We decided to give it a try. It was the weirdest thing ever.
It was like an old time Western set in China with one steak
on the menu. It was $100 USD. We said we had to go
and ended up eating BBQ that night.

Beijing duck on LaoWai Street. I love Beijing Duck.

This was at the Jade Buddha. These ladies talked to Alauna
giving her advice and asking her advice for about 20 min.
They wanted a pic with their hands on her belly for good luck.
They were in complete amazement that she was going to be the
mother of 7 kids. This was just a day or two before Liam was
born. I'm also amazed by Alauna.

Alauna looking beautiful as always at the Yu Gardens.

Nothing like a little foot massage. The people giving the
foot massages were also husband and wife.

Guacamole made tableside.

Alauna looking beautiful at 1500 feet in the air.

I love these two. They worked so hard.

Baby Liam

Our baby is now a big brother. Declan Loves
being a big brother.

Brannon and Liam

Trevon and Liam

Tiana and Liam.

Marissa and Liam. Not sure why we don't have
a pic of Mikayla and Liam. I need to find one.

Preparing to have a baby in China

2013-05-17T02:09:00.001-07:00

I know 2 posts in one day! But I felt like this deserved it's very own post. Preparing to have a baby in China has been an interesting experience.

When I found out I was pregnant and went to the doctor, I was given 3 options for delivery. Well, 4 technically. "Your seventh! Are you sure you want this baby?", was basically the doctor's first response. Believe me, after having 6 children you know how things work. If I didn't want a seventh child, I would not be pregnant. After the doctor realized that option 1 wasn't an option, she was very supportive and gave me 3 other options. Number 1 was to deliver in America. This wasn't really an option either. I would have had to go to America when I was 32 weeks and wait it out. Then after having the baby I would have to wait to get a passport and visa for the baby before I could return to China. So basically, I would have to be away from my family for 3 months. NOT an option. Option number 3 have the baby in Shanghai and option number 4 have the baby in Nanjing. I've ended up with a mix of number 3 and 4. I'm planning on delivering in Shanghai. They have a western hospital there with an American doctor (degree from the UofU), but it is also a 1 - 1 1/2 hour train ride to Shanghai or a 4 hour car drive. Also, the doctor in Shanghai wanted me in Shanghai to "hangout" at 36 weeks. Well, I'm past 36 weeks, and I'm not in Shanghai. So, here comes the compromise of number 3 and number 4. My Shanghai doctor is planning on inducing me sometime during the first week of June at about 39 weeks. So, I'm going to Shanghai that week instead of "hanging out" the week before. I will stay in Nanjing and deliver at a Taiwanese hospital if there are any complications before I go to Shanghai. I've had friends deliver in both hospitals and everything has gone well for everyone. I figure if the Lord really wanted me to have a baby in China everything will work out the way it's suppose to. I just have to have A LOT of faith. :)

There are so many things you take for granted in the US. For instance, baby formula. What if it is a necessity? Where do you get it? What brand do you buy? In fact, a few years ago, there were some major problems with the baby formula in China, and the heads of the company were executed because of the issues. Luckily, Similac has just started delivering to China! Yeah!!! One worry down.

Maternity clothes have been another issue. The clothes are made for little Chinese women. I would be lucky to fit into some of the clothing when I wasn't pregnant. A lot of it is kind of weird too. Some women wear lead lined aprons to protect their babies from computers, microwaves, etc. Luckily, I've been to America since I found out I was pregnant, and I was able to get some clothes there.

Another thing I took for granted was making baby items. If I wanted to make a quilt or crochet booties, I would just run to Walmart and within a half hour I had everything I needed. I decided to make a baby quilt here. I had to go to one store for the fabric, another one for the batting, and another one for the yarn to tie it. Then I had to come home and get online to order the sewing supplies I would need to make the quilt (needles, thread, cutting mat, rotary cutter, etc.), and all from different companies. You get the idea. Not an easy task. But once I started I was obsessed. I just received the last of the items and can finally start on the quilt.

The toilets in America are another thing I took for granted. Squatters are not pregnant friendly, especially in your 3rd trimester. Probably one of the worst experiences was when we were in GoaChun. If you look at Boyd's post, you can see what that squatters looked like. It was a long tile trough with dividers and no doors. Our family was the only non-Chinese people we saw the entire day. Everyone was following us around with cameras and video cameras. The bathroom was being cleaned when I first got in line. There were 4 stalls, and I was fourth in line. There were several people in line behind me. When we entered the bathroom, the 3 women in front of me quickly took the last 3 stalls leaving me with the one closest to the exit and the many other women in line. Needless to say, I did not feel like having pictures and/or videos taken of me as I tried to squat and not fall over. Also, the Chinese people are very helpful, and I didn't want any commentary or help as I tried to go to the restroom. So, I opted out and left as all of the Chinese women were trying to coax me into the stall. I did find another restroom later, still a squatter, but it had a door. I've gotten pretty good at holding onto the sides of the stall and praying that I don't fall in because I don't know if I could get out. :)

I've had to start over preparing for a baby here. I have everything I need for a baby. There's just one problem, it's all in a military storage unit in Roy, UT and is not accessible. Everyone has been so generous here. I had one friend give me a changing table and a baby buggy. I had another friend give me a baby bouncer and some nursing gear. I had another friend give me a crib. And there have been numerous other friends who have given me baby gear and apparel. I have been so blessed. I'm excited that I will be able to pass on everything when we return to America.

As you can see, there are a lot of concerns that would not even be an issue in America, but we are finding solutions to most of the problems. I'm counting down the days until I can write about actually having a baby in China. I can hardly wait to be able to see my feet and bend over again.

Alauna

Everyday life in China

2013-05-17T01:13:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks I've been thinking about what makes everyday life in China different than in America. Pretty much everything. It's amazing how different things are to me, and how normal things are for Chinese people.

NOISE

As I layed down to take a nap with Declan today, I realized how quiet it was. How is it that in a city of 8 million people it can be quiet? Here's what I came up with. First, I live on the outskirts of town and not right in the city. Next, I live in a gated compound where few people have cars. Most people ride electric motor scooters (That you can't hear even when they're right behind you. So, you have to be really careful.), bikes, or walk. Also, there aren't many kids in our compound that aren't school age. The Chinese kids have long school hours and even go on weekends sometimes. The expat kids are involved in a lot of after school activities. The men work long hours, and the women keep busy working or playing outside of the compound. There is a lot of construction in our compound, but from what I understand, there is a mandatory quiet time in the afternoon for an hour or two. When the workers do work, they don't use power tools. No drills, power saws, or large construction equipment. They use screwdrivers, hand saws, pulleys, and bamboo scaffolding. Lawn mowers are rarely used, most lawns are "mowed" with a weed whacker. Those are the main differences I could see in the noise level at naptime in America vs. China.

FASHION

The fashion here is always fun to analyze. The best way to sum it up is there is no fashion. You can wear pretty much anything you want and it's acceptable.

A lot of women wear nylons that look kind of like knee highs, but they only go to the ankle. This is a hot item in the summer. Many women wear these stockings with their sandals. The only good use I've found for these stocking is wearing them under your dress boots. They're perfect. I'm not planning on doing the sandal thing with them.

Another summer fashion is the way the men wear their shirts. When the men get hot, they do not take their shirts off. Instead they pull them up around their chest and let their tummy hang out. You see this everywhere. At first it was really weird. Now it's just a part of everyday life.

Women in China rarely have low necklines. Instead, they wear short shorts and short skirts. Sometimes they'll wear tights like pants, just a shirt and tights.

The Chinese women love their heels. They wear all kinds of crazy colors. They wear them with bows. They wear them bedazzled. You could make a whole Dr. Seuss book about Chinese women's shoes.

The older women wear unmatched prints. They might have a zebra print pant and a gray shirt with pink bows on it. I don't understand this fashion statement. In fact, half the time it looks like they're wearing PJs. So, they probably have the matching pieces at home in their closet.

During the winter they have special clothing as well. They have half sleeves that go from their wrist to their elbow that cover their coats. They will also wear aprons over their coats. There are a couple of reasons this makes sense in China. Number one, stores are not heated during the winter (or air conditioned during the summer). So, the Chinese people basically wear their coats all winter, which would mean washing their coats a lot. Which brings up number 2. Not everyone has washers, and few people have dryers. So, washing your coat often would not be practical. Washing the sleeve covers and aprons is a simple solution to this dilema. Another solution to this dilema is pajamas. People will wear quilted pajamas like clothing during the winter.

GROCERY SHOPPING

Grocery shopping is quite the event. So many things are unrecognizable, and I can't read the labels or ask someone what they are. Or things are seasonal, like ice cream. The Chinese people do not understand why anyone would want ice cream in the winter. So, as soon as it gets a little bit cold, the grocery store near us pulls all of the ice cream from the freezer section. In this past year though, the Chinese grocery store, Suguo, near us is carrying more and more "western" (American and European, not cowboy) items. I can remember how excited I was when I found sour cream and onion pringles in Suguo. I don't have to eat tomato, shrimp, or some other weird meat flavored pringles anymore. Another exciting find, is when they started carrying baggies, paper cups, and paper plates. They only have dessert size plates right now, but I'm confident they'll have larger ones soon. Another exciting thing was when they started carrying canned/bottled peaches (and a couple of other fruits). They don't have canned items in the grocery store typically. So, this was very exciting. Some other exciting products that I have discovered in Suguo this last year are Hormel deli slice ham, cheese (on occasion), a yogurt that will work as sour cream, tampons, milk that's not way to creamy, fruit roll ups, sweetened condensed milk, brown sugar, marshmallows (not like in America, but marshmallows never the less), and cold cereal that I recognize. Some of these products were here when we moved here, but a lot of them are new. It is nice to finally find things close to us that make you feel at home.

So, these are just a few examples of everyday life in China. My new normal, I guess. Although a lot of it still doesn't seem normal, but at least more of my life is starting to feel normal instead of being all foreign.

Alauna

GaoChun

2013-04-05T01:16:00.000-07:00

Thursday was Tomb Sweeping day in China. Click here to learn more about Tomb Sweeping Day. It is a national holiday and so I didn't have to work and the kids were out of school. So we load up the car with Alauna, Marissa, Brannon, Trevon, Declan and myself and headed to Gaochun. It is a small city about 75 km south of Nanjing. With normal traffic and no road construction it should take about 1.5 hours to get there. With holiday traffic and road construction it takes about three hours to get there. Luckily we have water bottles in the car and I brought a few snacks so even though it was long it was bearable. Coming home, however, was even worse. There were a couple of times that traffic stopped completely people got out of their cars. One guy (man, not a child) had to go to the bathroom so he got out of his car and walked over to the guard rail. It was about 2.5 feet tall and he looked at it and looked around at the hundreds of cars and decided it was too much effort to climb over the guard rail so he took care of business right there on the guard rail. As common place as this is it still catches me off guard a bit. We took a lot of pictures and will tell the adventure through the pictures.

These yellow fields are blanketing China right now.
They are rapeseed flower and they make Canola Oil
out of these. They are all over China and
absolutely beautiful right now. I always wondered
where Canola Oil came from. It took moving to China
to figure that out.

More Canola Oil fields.

I snapped this pic from driving from the car, but this
picture is one of the reasons I love travelling through China.
There are so many layers to it. It's easy to see the trees, but
if you look through the trees you see the farmhouse and
patches of yellow. Then in the distance you can see the pagoda.
China is never as it first appears. You really have to look
through many layers to get the full picture.

Gaochun if famous for a few different things. One is
Old Street. It is an ancient street that is filled with
all kinds of vendors. You can buy food, clothing,
art, toys, and just about anything else. This street dates back
to the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1300 ad)

Old Street Family Picture.

When we arrived this guy started taking pictures
of us. This is pretty common in China.
He started talking to us and asked us if we
came from Nanjing. He said he was also from
Nanjing and just wanted to take some pictures of us.
He told us to just act natural and he would just
follow us for a bit. It was a bit weird having
him follow-us. He gave me his business card
so he can share some photos with us. We did not
see another foreigner in Gaochun that day and we
had a ton of people taking pictures of us all day long.

I mentioned you could buy food on Old Street. Here is a
sampling. On the left is a dried whole carp. I'm surprised
I haven't seen more of these sold on the banks of Utah lake.
There are also dried chicken wings, and dried chicken feet.

Lots of toys for sale. Declan was have fun with them.

This is the drain into the sewer. They are all throughout the
street. I imagine this technology is 500+ years old.

Pork for sale. This place was actually very clean. Whole pig
butchered and for sale on the table. Again, I'm not sure how
everyone that eats this doesn't get sick.

More dried food. That is a dried pig leg sticking out.

Dried fish. I saw someone eating these with a little batter on
them and fried. They had a bit of hot sauce on the top.
I guess if it's spicy enough anything is good.

This is a restaurant. The food is in cages and bins on the floor.
There is a pheasant on the top cage on the left and a goose
on the bottom cage. The white bins are full of fish and other
water animals and vegetables. You pick out what you want and
they cook it up fresh for you.

Another restaurant. The concept is not bad, just
picking your food off the floor seems a bit
different.

Dried pig faces. On the left you can see a good shot of the
whole pig face. I have eaten this before. No need to
eat again.

GaoChun is famous for their hairy crabs. They live in the lakes
around Gaochun and every fall they have a Hairy Crab Festival.
Here is a neighborhood of houseboats.

People washing their clothes in the water and on the steps.

Washing clothes.

She had a load of clothes to wash. She would dip them in the
water and then ring them out. She would then rub them around
and then fold them up with this beating board. She was whacking
them hard and you could hear the thumping echoing across the water.
Whenever I see things like this I always tell my kids that "this
is real life". I'm glad they are able to see that people live all
different kinds of lives and hopefully they are grateful
for the life they have. We are very blessed.

A small store. In reality a table with some
drinks and a few buns for sell on it.

The owner came out and talked to us. I didn't ask
how old she was but I imagine close to 80. When we
took a picture she told us to send one to her. She pointed
up to the address on the building. She has probably
never heard of email and in reality has no need for it.
What a great and simple life.

Main Gate of Old Street. This is at the end of the day.
Declan was warn out and sound asleep.

A small house in the neighborhood off Old Street.

This was one of the bathrooms. Many of the
houses don't have their own bathrooms so
there are a lot of community bathrooms.
They had a tile trough to pee in. This was the squatter.
I walked in and there are guys in their squatting.
No door, no shame. One old guy looked up at
me and gave me a head nod and small wave.
It was only awkward for me.

This well is 500 years old. There is still water in in.

When you look in it you can see your reflection. This
picture looks a bit haunted.

Family by the well. If you notice, Trevon has a snake around
his neck. It is a wooden King Cobra that he bought that day.
He carried it around and treated it like it was real. It was
so funny to watch him with it.

The kids saw this "Harry Potter scar" on the ground wanted me to
take a picture.

Inside of the well.

Enjoying the afternoon.

Back alley.

The kids were in this store looking at some toys.
All of a sudden I hear the owner getting pretty excited
I look down and Trevon is about to step on some vegetables he has
drying on the floor. He hurried and grabbed the vegetables and
I snapped a pic. Again, one of those things they are
not going to experience in Highland, Utah.

Cars stopped on the freeway.

This old guy lives next to the freeway. There is a gap in the
fence and he came down to check out cars stopped.
There was a pretty worn path so I think it's a ritual for him
to walk down to the freeway and watch the cars go by
while smoking.

He was happy to pose for us.

The cause of our many delays.

The endless journey home.

It was a great trip with the family. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Boyd

2013-04-04T17:03:00.001-07:00

Easter

2013-03-31T06:43:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter from China. We had a church Easter party on Saturday. It was a great time. We went to Yu Hua Tai Park in Nanjing. It is a huge park. The main part of the park is a large memorial to some communist soldiers killed during the war with the nationalist. Around the memorial are many different parks and grassy areas. We had an area with a large grassy area adjacent to some woods. They set up an Easter Egg hunt in the woods. It was a great time. The kids has so much fun finding their plastic eggs filled with Candy. It is really nice for the kids to have some things that help them feel a bit like home. After the Easter Egg hunt we had a bunny bowl, or American football game. It was a ton of fun. It was beautiful weather. We had about 30 people there and it was a great time.

Saturday morning started out with a trip to the fresh market. Alauna started cooking again last week. So when I make my trip to the fresh market it's a pretty big trip. The fresh market is one of my favorite places in China. There are such personalities working and shopping there. There are many sights and sounds and smells. Most smells are not pleasant but definitely add to the experience.

The boys had a soccer tournament at school. They were playing against the Nanjing Foreign Language School. Brannon is 9 and they played against kids that were 13-14 years old. They lost 2-0 but they did awesome. Trevon's team played kids their same age and they did very well.

This weekend we got a new trampoline. It is another thing that helps bring some normalcy into their lives. We ordered a 15' trampoline, but they were out of stock so we got a 16' instead. It fills up the whole back yard. I think our back yard is 16' 1" deep. The kids have had a great time jumping and playing on the tramp. It was great because Tiana, Marissa, Brannon, Trevon and Tiana's friend Elissa all helped to build the tramp.

We also got the Xbox set up. It has been here with us the entire time but because the power is different we haven't plugged it in. I was able to find a power converter and the Easter Bunny brought a couple new games and the kids are loving playing Just Dance again.

We had a great Easter Sunday. Alauna spoke in church and gave an amazing talk on the Atonement and Easter. She is such an amazing lady and I'm so honored and privileged to be her husband. We also had a great dinner. I was able to find a ham (not cheap) and we had a great Easter dinner as a family. The kids also colored Easter Eggs.

Overall it was a great weekend. Beautiful weather, great time with family and friends, great church service, great food, and a great time to ponder on the important things in life, namely our relationship with our Savior Jesus Christ.

Boyd

Elissa Helping Trevon get an egg

Brannon, Rissa, Tiana, Elissa, and Trevon

Declan making a haul

Trevy

Dec Feeling good right now.

Declan, Elissa, Trevon, Tiana, Rissa, Brannon
after the Easter Egg Hunt

Coloring Easter Eggs. All the kids are there but you can
barely see Trev and Dec.

New Tramp. Pic taken from Declan's room.

NIS International Day

2013-03-24T05:55:00.001-07:00

We had a great day at the NIS International day yesterday. This is an annual event to highlight all the different countries represented at NIS. The School gym is turned into a virtual Hall of Nations. I believe there are 44 different countries represented at Nanjing International School (NIS). I think they had 24 different booths set up in the gym representing the many different countries. It was great to see everyone and the pride they have for their country. We had a great booth representing the USA. There were hundreds of hours put into planning and putting the booth together.

They made a quilt and each family had the opportunity to design a block for the quilt. Our kids did two blocks. One with a pioneer covered wagon to represent the Westover Pioneer heritage and a Viking Helmet to represent the Benson heritage. Brannon, Alauna and I also made about 80 cookies for the event. In all we had over 1,400 cookies at the USA booth. In addition to the booth they also had talent event in the Performing Arts Center. They had dancing, singing, poetry and other acts from the many different countries. The theme of the US booth was the diversity of cultures that makes up America. For the performance they had three different individual dances. One was ballet, one was Indian Bollywood and one was Irish Dancing. The Irish dancer was amazing. They all of the kids dance to We're the Kids in America. It was a great performance. They spent a lot of time preparing for it. Declan really wanted to dance. During the dress rehearsal he did a great job. They during the performance I think he got a bit of stage fright. He just stood on the stage and stared into the audience. He is such a cute kid.
Here is a video of the dress rehearsal where Declan is dancing along. Tiana, Marissa, Brannon and Trevon are also performing. (videos are having issues. I'll post later)

The highlight of the night performances was the Korean students performing Gangham Style. I think Gangham Style has enjoyed it's 15 min of fame already, but these kids did a great job and it was great to see them perform.

Yesterday was also a great day for Mikayla. She went to Beijing with the theater group from school and performed in the ACAMIS (not sure what it stands for, but I think the governing body of International Schools in China) Speech and Debate competition. She performance a duet performance with a classmate. They performed a scene from a play and they took FIRST place. I was so excited for her. She works so hard on her drama and it is great to see her have success. I wish we could have been there to see her perform. I love watching her perform. She is so talented and works so hard at it.

We are really blessed to have all of these experiences we are having in China. It is never easy to live here in China but we are constantly seeing, eating, hearing and experiencing things that are completely different than our "Normal". After living here our "normal" will be very different and very broad. Whether we like it or not our family is learning to see the world in a different view. I think that this has taught us to understand, enjoy and appreciate other peoples cultures and the things that are important to them. I also think that it has caused us to truly understand what is important to us. I think those things have become even more important to our family. Today we went to Shanghai for district conference for church. Other than waking up between 4:30-5:00am to catch a 7:00am train it was a great conference. One lady talked about the culture that we are building in our family. That really caused me to reflect on what culture we are building in our family. It was a great opportunity to think about what is most important to us and are we doing it. We have continued our culture here in China of eating dinner together. We did this in the US but that has really become even more important for us here in China. It is a great chance for us to gather as a family and enjoy each others company. Hopefully we laugh a bit, learn from each other and enjoy the time together. We also end dinner with reading the scriptures and saying family prayer. This is a part of the day that I really look forward to and really miss if I'm not part of it.

I also love shopping with the family here in China. I think we go to Suguo (local grocery store) or the fresh market a lot more as a family or with some of the kids than we did in the US. I really enjoy it. I love the weekly trips to the vegetable market. Sometime soon I will take some video and pictures of the fresh market and post here. It is one of my favorite parts of living in China.

Our kids have also developed a strong sense of independence here in China. Brannon needed some new shoes. He is so hard on shoes because he plays so hard. So on Saturday Brannon and Marissa rode their bikes down to the shops by Suguo to buy shoes and whatever other treasures they could find. Brannon and Marissa both came home with a new pair of shoes. He had bought some Converse All Stars (knock-off I'm sure). He even negotiated them down. I asked him if they walked away (key step in negotiating in China) and he confirmed that they walked away. I was so proud. They have learned well. They are such good kids.

As we travel I am constantly counting to six. As we are travelling through the train stations my kids lead the way. They know how to read to boards to know what waiting room they are in, they grab their tickets and jump in the flood of people and pop out of the other side of the ticket gates. It's at times a bit like salmon swimming upstream and occasionally jumping out of the water. I just keep looking for blond heads to pop up amongst the current of black hair.

I have often said and will say again that this is the best thing and the hardest thing our family has done. Both statements are still true.

Take Care,

Boyd

London Pics

2013-03-17T05:05:00.003-07:00

Lions at Trafalgar Square

Horse Guard

Outside Clarence House

Changing of the Guard

Carriage Leaving Buckingham Palace

Carriage leaving Clarence House taking a new Ambassador to
go meet the Queen.

Big Ben

London Eye

Saint Pauls from the River Thames

Exterior of Globe Theater

Tower of London

Roman Wall by Tower of London. 2000 years old

Going to Hogwarts

Dec is the Cutest Wizard of them all.

2013-03-17T04:58:00.001-07:00

Chinese New Year

2013-03-17T03:28:00.000-07:00

We had an amazing two weeks. The last two weeks were Chinese New Year. The first week was spent in Nanjing enjoying CNY and the second week was in London. Chinese New Year started off on the evening of Feb 9th. That night is New Years Eve. We had some friends, the Streeters, come over for dinner and new years fun. We had a great dinner that night. It was traditional Chinese New Year Fare, good ol' American Hamburgers. We grilled the burgers up on the grill and it was so delicious. Fireworks are also a big part of CNY. That whole day people were lighting firecrackers and other fireworks. The quantity and quality intensified as evening progressed. Of course we had to join in the fireworks show.

We went to Luhe a week earlier to buy fireworks. Our driver, Yang Ning, found us a great place that sells fireworks wholesale. It is a great place to get them. The selection is great and the prices are even better. It was so fun taking the kids to get fireworks. They were like kids in a candy store. We are repeat customers at this store and so when we pulled up the guy ran out to meet us with excitement. He knew that he would have good day when he saw us pull up. We loaded up on firecrackers, sparklers, roman candles, bottle rockets, fountains poppers, spiders and double spiders at his shop. He then took us to the warehouse for the big stuff. We got some more large fireworks there.

Just before the Streeters arrived I had to run to SuGuo to pick up a couple more things. They were selling fireworks out front so of course we had to check out what they had. They had this huge roll of firecrackers. I talked them down to a great price so obviously I had to get it. After I bought it, it hit me that I was on my bike. The box this was in was about 2.5 feet squared. I carried it on one shoulder and the other hand was on the handlebar. The kids were laughing when they saw this.

That night was a great night. We had a great barbecue and then we had a great fireworks show with the Streeters. It was a great time and the fireworks were amazing. We then went in the house and were just relaxing and taking it easy. The fireworks were steadily going off the whole evening. We were debating whether we go to bed or wait up until midnight. We were sitting in the family room and could hear the fireworks progressively getting louder and more frequent. We looked at the clock and it was 11:50. We rushed outside, opened up the garage and broke into the stash of remaining fireworks. We had an amazing show. It was fun to light our own fireworks and simultaneously watch thousands of fireworks going off all around us all over the city. It was almost unbelievable how many fireworks were going off at the same time. And then to think about all of China and a billion plus people all lighting fireworks at the same time was pretty cool.

Because it was Chinese New Year the hotel that we have church in was closed. So, we had our church branch at our house for church on Sunday morning. It was a great morning. It was awesome to have everyone at our house and have church together. There was such a great spirit there. After church we had an amazing potluck. Everyone brought great food. It's always so nice to have some good home cooked western food. After the lunch we lit some more fireworks off. There is a story of lighting firecrackers on New Years day to scare off the Nian monster. We light off 20,000 firecrackers and two large boxed fireworks. I think we scared off the Nian monster. It was a great day. I really am grateful that we have the opportunity to attend church here in China. Going to church each week is really strengthens me and I am glad I have this opportunity.

With Chinese New Year the kids were out of school for two weeks. The second week of Chinese New year we went to London. We had an amazing trip. It was one of the best vacations ever. We spent the first night in a hotel near Clapham Common. It was a great location with lots of character. Lots of Character means it looks great in pictures but in reality is small and old. It was nice though. It was also close to the church and we could walk to church. When we were are church there was a lady in the ward that her son is living in Shanghai. He couldn't find the church address in Shanghai so we were able to help her out and get her the address.

The rest of the trip we staying in Greenwich in a 3 bedroom apartment near the O2. One Direction had two concerts in the O2 while we were there and it drove Tiana crazy that 1D was performing and she wasn't there. I told here that it took me almost 20 years to see my first U2 concert so she needed to be patient. She responded that she needed to see them now because she probably wouldn't even be a band in 20 years. I thought that was pretty funny. At least she understand true talent.

We were in London a week and we packed as much as we could into that week. Here is a quick highlight of what we saw and did. Double Decker bus tour in the city, Changing of the Guard walking tour, Jack the Ripper walking Tour, Harry Potter walking tour, Tower of London, Fish and Chips multiple times, Phantom of the Opera, Ripley's believe it or not Museum, Stratford upon Avon, Shakespeare's house, Shakespeare's grave, Globe theater tour, Dinner with Shaun Kidd, Buckingham Palace, pictures with the Horse Guard, train station pastys, Harrods, Thames River Tour, Borough Market and the amazing cheese sandwiches and cheese potatoes, Tower Bridge, Multiple Churches, London Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Nandos, full English Breakfast. I'm sure I'm forgetting something. It was a great time. It was so great to see Mikayla at the Globe Theater and Shakespeare's house. She loves all things Shakespeare and she was so happy to soak it all in.

We are truly blessed to have all these amazing experiences. I will post some pictures in a separate post.

Boyd

Seasons

2013-02-27T18:18:00.003-08:00

One thing that I've realized while living in China is that there are many seasons. I know, I know. You're all thinking, it took her moving to China to figure that out. Just stick with me. The thing that brought me to this realization is "motorcycle season". In Utah, we wait all winter for the first beautiful spring day so that we can take out our motorcycles, bicycles, atvs, etc. (You get the idea.) In China, it doesn't matter what the weather is like, it's always "motorcycle season". It doesn't matter if it's snowing, raining, windy, hot and humid. The people of China are always on their scooters, motorcycles, and bicycles. This is the only mode of transportation for a large portion of the population. They find ways to make it work. Layers and layers of clothing are worn during the winter. When it rains they have "rain jackets" that cover them as well as their scooter with a "window" for the scooter headlight. I've seen people in casual clothing, business clothing, and even formal wear (heals included) as they ride their scooters to their destination. I've realized that just like "motorcycle season", some seasons in our lives are limited, like "motorcycle season" in Utah, and some seasons in our lives last forever, like "motorcycle season" in China.

One of my forever seasons are the experiences that I'm having while living in China. I will always have these memories and be able to take them with me throughout my life. One of my seasonal seasons is actually living here in China. It will not be a forever thing.

Some of the things that have been hard in China have been giving up my "comforts". When we moved here we only planned on living here for a year. So, we packed as though we were going on an extended vacation. We left the majority of our things behind, things that we could easily do without for a year. Now that our time here has been extended, it is hard not to miss what we left behind. We can't access our things in storage until we move back. It was hard to buy all new maternity clothes when I have a whole box in storage. It has also been hard to start all over with baby stuff when I know I have all of the equipment in storage. I have greatly missed my rocking chair when Declan has been sick or suffered from jet lag, and as I think about the new baby to come. I miss my scrapbooking stuff and other craft stuff that gave me a creative outlet. I know it's just "stuff" but it's still hard.

Another thing I miss is my "freedoms". Don't get me wrong, I appreciate our driver and our ayi (helper), but I miss those responsibilities at times. I miss being able to jump in the car and run to the store whenever I want to. I miss having stores that have everything in them instead of having to run from one small shop to another to get everything I need and still coming up short sometimes. I miss being able to get in the kitchen whenever I want to to make food. Now, I have to work somewhat around the ayi's schedule. I miss being able to do whatever wash I want to do whenever I want to do it (again the ayi's schedule). I miss understanding the people around me and the signs, store titles, menus, ads, etc. (I know, learn the language, but it's harder than you think, especially with pregnancy brain. I'm working on it, but it's not coming as quickly and easily as I'd like.)

(Okay, now that I'm done with my pity party, let's move back to the seasons of life. :) )

Another one of my forever seasons is being a mother. I will always be a mother. One of my seasonal seasons is actually having children. I had a season of having girls, and now I'm in my boy season. I guess once we figured out the boy formula, the girl formula has been lost. It is no longer the girl season for us.

Being a daughter is a forever season for me. I will always be my mother's daughter, but having my mother here with me is a seasonal season. I know one day this season will return though.

One day as I was sitting on a train to Shanghai, I was reading some church material (scriptures, conference talks) and I realized that it is up to me whether or not I want this to be a forever season for me or a seasonal season for me. It is up to me to choose if I want religion to always be a part of my life or just for a season. I then realized that the people of China do not have this option in the same way that I do. If a local Chinese person on the train had asked me what I was reading and if they could look at it. I would have to tell them no because the government won't let me share this with you. They would've understood and not asked me any more questions. That's how the government in China works. It made me sad to realize that the season for the choice of any religion is not even an option in Chinese citizens' lives right now. Hopefully this season will come to the Chinese people soon, the season to choose or not choose religion, but to at least to have an option. (And just to put any rumors to rest, this season is not here yet.)

I am grateful for all of the seasons in my life, whether they last a lifetime or just for a short moment. There is so much to learn from them. And just like the people of China during "motorcycle season", I hope that I can find ways to "weather" every season in my life.

Alauna

Qi Xia Temple

2013-01-13T01:58:00.001-08:00

For the past few months every Saturday has been filled with martial arts, soccer, ballet and other activities. The kids have had a great time, but we haven't seen as much of Nanjing as we would have liked. So, yesterday we had an open calendar and 50 degree weather and we headed to the temple in Qixia mountain. It was great to get away with the entire family. Qixia temple has been around in one shape or another for about 1500 years. It is at a base of a mountain about 20 minutes from our house. We had a great time walking around, taking pictures and seeing the Buddhist temple.

Trials and Blessings

2012-12-12T18:50:00.000-08:00

As I'm sitting here writing this blog post, sirens are going off throughout Nanjing to commemorate the Nanjing Massacre. I don't know how long they are scheduled to sound. It has already been at least a half hour, on and off, in the area that I live in. How interesting it is to experience the different occasions, sad and joyful, in another country.
The past few months have been some of the hardest I've ever experienced. Our family has gone through many trials. Just as we overcome our current trial, it seems as though a new harder trial is thrown our way. Let me tell you one of our easiest trials to deal with. Trevon was hit by a motor scooter and by a car while riding his bike. This all happened within about a weeks time. Luckily, Trevon was okay both times. There have been a lot of other trials that we've encountered. Some that we're ready to share, and some that we're still dealing with. But we are becoming stronger because of everything that has been handed to our family.
We have been fortunate enough to have a large home here in China, and we have been able to house several college students each weekend. Over Thanksgiving weekend, we had 18 students stay with us. Some of the college students in our church branch live a couple of hours away from Nanjing. So, they come to Nanjing on Saturday and spend the night with us so they can go to church the next day. One of the greatest blessings of this experience, and there are many, has been observing the excitement of the girls as the mission age was changed. We've had at least 5 of the girls that stay with us submit their mission papers. Four of them have received their calls, and 2 of them opened them via skype in our home. It has been an amazing experience and a great example for our kids. I love having these magnificent spirits and examples in our home every weekend.
Boyd was offered another year with Best Buy in China and has accepted the offer. So, we will be here until at least August 2014. It is great for Boyd from a work stand point, and it is great for Mikayla with school. It would be very difficult for Mikayla to change schools her senior year because of the way the junior/senior years are set up at the school here. She is in an IB program and the 2 years are made to work together. I'm still trying to decide if this is a blessing or a trial in my life. Probably a bit of both.
The 3 girls were in their school play, Kiss Me Kate, at the end of November. Tiana was Kate. Mikayla was Bianca. Marissa was Gregory. They all did an outstanding job. It was an amazing production. The costumes and set were fabulous. We had so much fun watching it. Even the boys sat quietly through both nights, which tells you just how good it was.
Mikayla had the opportunity about a month ago to attend an acting camp. It was in Korea. It was an amazing experience for her. She learned a lot about acting and life.
Marissa got to participate in a soccer competition about a month ago. She got to travel to Shanghai for this. They did pretty good considering they'd only had a couple weeks practice together as a team.
Thanksgiving this year was interesting. It didn't really feel like Thanksgiving. The kids had school the entire week, even on Thanksgiving. They had play rehearsal until 6:30 pm on Thanksgiving night. So, we invited the other Americans over from Boyd's work and had Thanksgiving dinner right as the girls walked in the door. We then did HW and sent the kids off to school again the next day. I really missed Thanksgiving break. We had a branch Thanksgiving dinner the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Our girls didn't get to come because they had an all day play rehearsal. (In fact, it was a sleep over play rehearsal. It started right after school on Friday. They spent Friday night at the school, and then came home at 9 pm on Saturday night.)
One of the hardest trials for me to deal with this last month was actually something that happened to us a year ago. In October 2011, I found out I was pregnant with our 7th child. We were so excited because we knew this sweet little spirit belonged in our family. November was a busy time. Tiana, Marissa, Brannon and I were in "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" at a community theater, and Tiana and I had the lead parts. We were practicing a lot to prepare for December's performances. Boyd went to China for business the 2 weeks before Thanksgiving. He was scheduled to come home 2 days before Thanksgiving. While Boyd was on his trip in China, he would call me every day. One of his number one topics to discuss with me was the possibility of moving to China. This is something that I had no desire to do, and because I was pregnant I had an easy out. I told him there was no way I was having a baby in China. Boyd finally let it go, but a few days later, I knew something wasn't right with the pregnancy. I was 10 1/2 weeks along. Our kids were the only ones who knew about the pregnancy. So, I kept Tiana home from school to watch the younger kids, (Mikayla had already left for school and had no idea what was going on.) and I went to the emergency room by myself. I found out I'd had a miscarriage, and I called Boyd in China to let him know. I came home and took Tiana to school. She'd already gotten the other kids off to school while I was gone. Since no one knew, I didn't want to make a big deal about it. It was a Wednesday, and this was my busiest day of the week. After I took Tiana to school, I went and did Wednesday folders and take home reading at the school, drove kindergarten carpool, went to scouts as a cub leader, and then attended YW in Excellence with my 2 older girls that night. That night, things did not go well and I ended up in the hospital with a D&C the next day. At that point, we had to let people know. That was one of the hardest things of my life. We had planned on telling everyone over Thanksgiving weekend, and instead we had to tell everyone, "I was pregnant, but now I'm not" the week before Thanksgiving. At first, Boyd could not get an earlier flight home because of the Thanksgiving holiday, but eventually, after a lot of phone calls, he was able to get on a Saturday flight. The Lord blessed me with a wonderful ward that took terrific care of me and my family until Boyd could return. I was given a blessing. I was taken to the hospital and watched over. My family was fed. My children were shuttled around. We were watched over every step of the way with phone calls and visits. We truly felt the Lord's love and the love of our friends and family. I know the Lord has a plan for us, but I don't always understand that plan, and I'm okay with that. I know that one day I will understand everything, and I know that as life goes on, I see the blessings that are given to me because of the trials that I have to go through. It's just really hard to be patient sometimes. It just wasn't the right timing for that baby to come to earth. There were other more important tasks that that sweet little spirit was needed for in heaven.
Well, hopefully the timing is right this time around. I'm pregnant in China! Who would've ever guessed? NOT ME!!! It's the exact same timing as last year. My due date last time was June 10th. This time it's June 13th. I'm 14 weeks along and all is going well so far. I was on bed rest for the first trimester. The doctor was extremely worried because of my miscarriage, 8th pregnancy, and living in China. We had an ultrasound last week and everything looks good. We were so grateful and relieved. It has been a pretty stressful time after last years experience. We're excited to have a new baby in our home and are gearing up for all of the arrangements that we will have to make for having a baby in China. This is our best ever "made in China" product!
We can hardly wait to come to the states for Christmas. Especially me! I have so many cravings that have gone unfulfilled because it is impossible to obtain my food craving foods in China. We look forward to seeing everyone and getting to spend time with you!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!
Alauna

quick update

2012-12-07T18:02:00.001-08:00

Hello. It's been way too long. Sorry. Sometimes life is busy and sometime life starts to feel normal and doesn't feel like there in anything to post. I'll give a quick update and hopefully there is some value in what I write.
It has been two months since my last post. A lot has happened in that two months. Mikayla, Tiana and Marissa were in the school play. The did a wonderful production of Kiss Me Kate. Tiana was Kate, Mikayla was Bianca and Marissa was Gregory. They were all amazing. I was so proud of them. We went both nights of the play and loved every minute of it. I told Mikayla that I love watching them act just as much as I love watching the boys play football or basketball. I think she was a bit surprised by this. I really am proud of all our kids.

The kids have been very busy with soccer, marial arts, play rehearsal, ballet, and school so almost every free moment has been filled. This next half of the year we are doing less school activities so we can do more China activities. I think the kids are looking forward to a bit of a break as well.

Alauna and I went to a formal Charity Ball. It was so much fun. She got a beautiful dress made and I got a tux made. It was a ton of fun to get dressed up, go have a nice meal and have a great time with friends. We also won three nights at local hotels so that will be fun as well. I'll post pictures in a separate entry.

Before moving to China I told the family that living in China would be one of the hardest things we have ever done and one of the most rewarding things we have ever done. Both of these statements have proven true so far. There have been some very difficult and some very positive things happen since we have lived here. I have felt emotions that I have never felt before and didn't even know I had. Through it all I have always tried find the positive. Life is good though. China is good. America is good. Can't wait to head home for Christmas.

When we head to the US I think it will be a 24 hour event every day. The kids have so much they want to do that in order to do it all I don't think we can sleep. They have a long list of food they want to eat. They have a long list of people they want to see. They have a long list of places they want to go. I just hope that they find a bed at someone's house every night. I just realized they don't have US cell phones anymore. I guess we'll need to head to Best Buy Mobile and pick up a few prepaid phones to use while we are there so we can keep track of where everyone is.

Christmas is very commercialized here in China. Every mall has a huge Christmas tree. The younger generation use Christmas as a time to give gifts but there is no meaning beyond gift giving. We went to a mall last night to see the Christmas decorations and got peppermint hot chocolate at Starbucks. It was a good night. I missed seeing the live Nativity in Alpine. That has been a family tradition for us for a few years and I always look forward to it. If you are near Utah county during the first part of December you should find the live nativity and go. It is such a great event and such a great spirit there.

Last night was was trying to get a cab and this guy in a little van pulls up and asks where I wanted to go. I needed to stop by one more store and then go to the mall to meet up with the family. He said he would take me. So I jump in and we start driving. As we were driving all his fellow little van taxi drivers would yell at him "hey you got a foreigner. Where you going?" I would yell back and tell them where we were were going and they would laugh. Then we got to the store and I asked him to wait. He said to hurry but he would wait. When I walked out of the store and saw him he had his hood opened and acted like he was working on the engine. I just laughed. He had the hood up because he was in a spot (in the lane of traffic) where he shouldn't be waiting. So if a cop approached him he could said he was fixing his van. Pretty clever. As I got in the van four other people jumped in as well. They were going in a similar direction so he took all five of us. Just a little van driver making a living. Pretty funny.

Life in China is good.

Take Care.
Boyd

Favorite Day

2012-10-07T03:30:00.000-07:00

We had an absolutely great day on Saturday. So great, it get's its own blog post about it.

It was a great day of Family, Friends, Food and Football. We started off talking to my mom for her birthday. It was early Saturday morning for us and Friday evening for them. They were getting ready to go to the BYU-Utah State football game. It was really great to talk to my parents and my sister Karen. It was my dad's birthday a couple of days before. Happy birthday Mom and Dad. We love you both. Thanks for all your support and help. We hope you enjoy your present.

After talking to my parents we jumped into getting ready for friends to come over. We were going to watch the BYU USU game on ESPN. One of the students here has access to ESPN through his Grandparents Comcast account. So thanks to Spencer Bowen's grandma. Alauna was amazing with preparing food and making it a great day for everyone. We had Chili, cornbread, cinnamon rolls, hummus, pita chips, salsa, artichoke dip, carrots, celery and a cream cheese bacon tomato feta dip. It was all amazing. It was all home made from scratch. Alauna is so amazing. It was all so fresh as well. We went to the fresh market the day before to stock up on tomatoes, onions, chili pepper, and carrots to make everything. The food tasted so good. She made 48 cinnamon rolls and everyone was eaten. Most of the friends that came over are college students studying here and it had been a while since they had had a cinnamon roll. I'm glad they really enjoyed them.

The BYU game was ok. Glad they won, but really kind of a boring game. The drive right before half time was a lot of fun. The defense played awesome as usual. It is a lot of fun to watch Ziggy Ansah, Brandon Ogletree and Kyle Van Noy just create havoc for the other team. It was just great to watch a game live as it happened. It was the first and probably only time this year I will be able to see a live BYU game. We do get to watch some of the games replayed on BYU TV but usually this ends up being a couple of days later so it's not quite the same. Still better than nothing. Going to BYU football games with my parents, Brannon and Alauna are one of the things that I miss most about living in Utah. Hopefully we will be able to go to the bowl game this December and see them play live. The way things are shaping up it looks like it will be the Poinsettia bowl. San Diego would be awesome for a day or two.

After the football game Brannon came up and whispered "Dad, can we light the fireworks". That is when the real fun began. We had a few strands of small firecrackers and then a few strands of these big firecrackers. They are probably 1/2" diameter. We started out just lighting them and throwing them. Then someone said let's grab a pop bottle . We had a two liter bottle and would stick a large firecracker in the two liter bottle and that was cool for a bit. Then someone mentioned black cats firecrackers and that took me back to being a kid in Gooding, Idaho and lauching a tuna fish can in the air with a black cat. Alauna got me a soup can and with a screwdriver and hammer I made a hole in the soup can that we could jam one of the large firecrackers in. We then got a plastic mop bucket, which eventually got blown up, and put water in the bottom. We then placed the tin can in the bucket with a bit of water, lit the fuse and the can blew about 60-70 feet in the air. IT WAS AWESOME. Of course we had to do it again and again and again. Chris Gilbert from ASU, Brannon and Spencer Streeter were my partners in crime with launching the cans. Eventually we blew the top off of that can and hole in the side of the bucket. We got a new bigger can and a metal bucket to launch them out of . With the bigger can we made two holes and put two firecrackers in the can. We thought this would lauch it twice as high. It didn't make it twice as high but it did make it twice as fun. The fuses, even when lit at the same time did not seem to burn at the same speed. One would blow and launch the can in the air and then the other would blow and shoot the can in a different direction mid air. At one point the second one blew and shot the can straight at our friends and the kids standing on our balcony on the third floor. Luckily it wasn't going that fast and caused no harm to life or property.

There have been firecrackers and fireworks going off all week because of the Chinese National Day. I think our neighbor was tired of the fireworks going off, however. At one point he stood on his balcony with very few clothes on. There is still debate on whether he was half-naked or the full Monty. Regardless he, in broken English and hand signals was asking us to stop. We moved the show to the front of the house. Lit of the last few fireworks and finished the show.

It was so fun just to relax with friends watch football, eat some good food and blow something up. Thanks to Alauna and all our Nanjing friends for a great Saturday.

Boyd

Life

2012-10-04T17:41:00.001-07:00

Hello again from Nanjing. It feels like a couple of months since I have written anything. I know Alauna has written a few posts. There are times that I think that I should blog about an experience and then I'm too tired or too busy to write it down. Sometimes I also feel like very few people will really understand what we're going through living in China. I know that should make me want to share even more, but sometimes it doesn't. Living in China has been very difficult in many ways. It has challenged many aspects of our lives if not all. It has also been an amazing experience and wouldn't trade it. I guess that's the way life is. When we look back the most difficult times often end up being the most rewarding. I also don't like to write about the tough times because I like to dwell on the positive.

One of the many fireworks for Alauna's Bday.
She's so amazing she deserves Fireworks everyday.

We celebrated Alauna's birthday in a big way. We had a couple days of dinners and fun culminated with a big celebration. We had our neighbors and friends over for dinner and then a fireworks show. We had Pizza and Pasta from Bellini's, a local--wait, the only--Italian restaurant near us. It was really good. The evening ended with an amazing fireworks show. The fireworks rivaled the Highland Fling or any other small town fireworks show. It was a great evening. Best Buy's Grand Opening was on Alauna's birthday. This of course caused me to work more than I wanted to on her birthday, but we were able to still celebrate and have a great time. I think she might have even gotten even more of a celebration as compensation for me working on her Bday.

Our Best Buy Mobile Grand Opening went very well. It was very rewarding to see the stores all opened. We have now opened 12 Best Buy Mobile stores in Nanjing. During the grand opening I was asked to do a television interview. I did the interview in Chinese. I was so nervous. I repeated myself a couple of times because of being nervous but overall it went well. I was proud of myself for doing the interview in Chinese. Everyone now just expects me to speak Chinese now, but they forget that at some point I was just like them and didn't speak a bit of Chinese. There were many days that I thought I would never be able to speak Chinese. There was a lot of work going into speaking Chinese. There is still so much I am learning and still have moments when I don't understand what people are talking about but it is still progressing everyday.

The three older girls all toured through China for Discover China Trip week with their school. Mikayla went to Guizhou, Tiana went to Beijing and Marissa went to Suzhou and Wuxi. They all had an amazing time. Mikayla helped build a rice paddy for a village. What they did in two days would take four rice farmers a month to accomplish. They stayed in the local village houses. She had an amazing time and I'm proud of her. Tiana went to Beijing and camped at a farm near the great wall. They also went to the Water Cube from the Olympics. It is has a water park in it and that was the highlight of her trip. Marissa also had a great time in Suzhou. She went on a double decker merry-go-round. She also went bowling. She also had Korean BBQ. She saw one of the tallest Buddhas in China and went to a silk worm factory. They all really had a great time and gained a greater appreciation for China and built relationships with their classmates.

Our branch (congregation) at church has grown dramatically with an influx of college students here for study abroad or teaching English. We have been having a few of them over for Sunday dinner each week. It's been fun having them over. They remind me of myself 20 years. Going to BYU, studying Chinese and trying to figure out what to do with the rest of my life. They have such a bright future ahead of them. Having them over also means that we are eating well. Alauna has done an amazing job making some great food. She has been making homemade tortillas with black beans, cilantro rice and pork. It is so delicious. It would taste good anywhere but tastes amazing here in China. She has also taken full advantage of the local fresh market. She has been making chili, and pasta sauces with all the fresh tomatoes, peppers, onions and other vegetables. She made a red pasta sauce that was as good as any pasta sauce I have ever had. We really miss our garden, but having the fresh market so close is a great alternative.

The weather in Nanjing has been amazing the last few weeks. No rain and you don't sweat through your clothes. Fall is so nice here. The leaves haven't started changing yet, but it is getting cooler at nights and feels great.

Our kids are doing a great job adapting to to life in China. We were walking the other day and Trevon jumped over a puddle. I commented to him that in the US he would have jumped in the puddle, but in China he jumped over the puddle. I asked him why he did this. His response was, "Dad, in China you don't know if the puddle has pee in it." I'm so proud of him. He has listened well and learned. It is true. You don't step in any liquid on the ground in China. You never know what it is and there is a high likelihood that it is pee.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Boyd

Brannon with his face painted at a local
community event.

Korean BBQ.

Baby Panda at the Nanjing Zoo.

Trevy and Dec with their faces painted.

Happy Birthday Alauna

2012-10-03T03:34:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Alauna's birthday this past weekend. We celebrated the entire weekend. Her birthday was on Friday. I took Thursday off and we went and had waffles for breakfast at Sculpting in Time. It is a great little cafe across from Nanjing University. They are one of the few places that serve an American Style breakfast. Declan and I even shared a bowl of corn flakes.

Patience......no, FAITH

2012-10-03T03:33:00.000-07:00

This past week as Boyd and I were cooking, the handle broke off of one of our measuring cups. It was a measuring cup that we had brought from the US. I realized it was one of my grandma's measuring cups, and then I thought to myself, who ever thought that my grandma's measuring cups would end up in China. They went from my grandma's kitchen in Mapleton, to my mom's kitchen in Orem, and now my kitchen in China.

I thought the lesson I was learning the past few weeks was that of patience, but I now realize it's been the lesson of faith in my Savior. (I guess that's really the lesson of this whole experience though.) My faith has been tested as we traveled over 8 hours by bus, 1 hour by subway and some time by taxi,and even more time on foot during the period of 2 days to be able to get to and from district conference. My faith has been tested as a protest marched through the streets of our compound during the middle of the night. My faith has been tested as my child was required to a read a book for school that I would have never let her read if it wouldn't have been required for school. My faith has been tested as my families faith has been challenged.

Our district conference was in Shanghai. Our branch provided transportation by bus. It was a little over 4 hours each direction. Once we got to the "church building" (conference center with a couple of rooms set aside for our church), our kids were going to have to sit and wait for us for 5 hours during the priesthood session and the adult session, or we could try to get to the hotel and let them wait there. We decided to head for the hotel. We had one hour before the priesthood session, at which Boyd was speaking. We went as quickly as we could to the subway station. We were all loaded down like pack horses. We had our suitcases, blankets for the children, the diaper bag, stroller (Which we had to lift up and down numerous sets of stairs with Declan in it.), all of our food for the next day, and numerous other odds and ends. We were dripping with sweat by the time we reached the subway. Once we got off the subway we made a mad dash for the motel. With sweat dripping down our faces, backs, etc. (You get the picture.) we entered the motel. It had taken us over an hour to get to the motel. Boyd was late for his meeting. He emailed them, got the process started of checking us in, and caught a cab back to church. I finished the check in process. This is not quick in China. They have to scan every one's passports at least once if not twice, print off millions of papers for you to sign (which I can't read), and stamp every paper a couple of times each. By the time we were done checking in, the boys were running around the lobby screaming one minute and crying the next because so and so and done such and such. I quickly hauled my "little angels" to our rooms. I got all of the children settled in the largest room and went to catch a taxi for me to get to the adult session. Boyd had written the name of "the church building" on a card from the motel for me so that I could tell the taxi driver where to go. I tried to tell the driver, but he didn't know what I was saying. What a surprise, my Chinese is so good....not. I called Boyd and he told the driver where to go. The driver dropped me off on the opposite side of the conference center from the church. I walked around the large building and finally found Boyd. I had a hard time concentrating on the conference as a worried about my children in a motel that was a bit sketchy. The kids decided to go to KFC while Boyd and I were in our meeting. I was praying for them the whole time. When our meeting was over, we went and met up with the kids. They were safe and sound. We had fun going to dinner and shopping at the street markets. When we got back to the motel, we were lucky enough to find about 20 call girl business cards that had been pushed through the door into each of our rooms. I quickly told the boys to close their eyes and collected all the cards and placed them in the garbage can. The next morning, we decided we were not going to go through the hour and a half ordeal of walking and the subway. So, we got 2 taxis. I rode in one with half of the kids, and Boyd rode in the other with the other half. It was a crazy time, and I haven't written about all of our happenings, only the most crazy.

Two weeks ago, there was a day here in China that was an anniversary of something that happened during WWII with Japan. (Not much info. Sorry. I don't even understand the whole story.) Anyway, because of this event China has some extremely negative feelings toward Japan and the US. Also, China and Japan's fight over some island did not help the issue. There were protest all through out Nanjing on this day. We were lucky enough to have our compound as one of the target areas. At 11:30 p.m., I was woken up by people yelling in the street by my house. I think they were yelling something about Japanese and Americans go home. It was scary. I woke up Boyd and had him go through the house and make sure all of the doors and windows were locked. (There were other issues that had occurred in our compound in the days before the protest. So, we knew something might happen.) The next morning we found out that a sign had been put up in front of our compound telling Americans and Japanese to go home. Also, a Japanese car had been vandalized. Our compound, school, and the Ford company (The majority of the expats in our compound work for Ford.) warned us to stay in our homes and let us know that there was extra security at the school for the day. These warnings came out after we had already sent the kids to school. Luckily, Boyd had taken the boys to school with our driver. The girls were away at school trip week. So, I was a little nervous about their safety, and we didn't let them know what was going on at home because we didn't want to worry them. I used our driver the next few days to get the kids to and from school (normally a 5-10 min. walk). Everything is good now, but it was a scary couple of days.

We've also had lots of great experiences. I'm finding that I can obtain the majority of what I need to make Western food at a good price if I'm willing to make it from scratch. That means no fridge biscuits, bottled salsa and sauces, canned beans and vegetables. I go to the fresh market and make everything from scratch. (Spaghetti, Chili, Pickles, etc.) We can even buy freshly made noodles at the market. You can buy a chicken and have it butchered right before your very eyes. (Something we have not done.) I even had someone tell me that it's almost the season for fresh dog meat in the market. (Another thing we aren't going to try.)

We've been able to do a little sight seeing. It's finally starting to cool off enough that sightseeing is enjoyable. Boyd is taking the next couple of days off, and we are going to get to see some of the sights in Nanjing. We are really looking forward to a little break in our routine and some well needed family time.

Here's to building my faith!

Alauna

Things I'm grateful for

2012-07-29T20:25:00.000-07:00

I wanted to write an entry devoted to the things that I've learned to be grateful for while living in China.

Let's start with bathrooms. First, squatters are no longer an issue. As long as we find a clean, flushing squatter I'm grateful. The second thing I'm grateful for is toilet paper. If I walk into a bathroom and find a roll of toilet paper outside of the stalls, I'm grateful. (Or if I remember to pack toilet paper with me, which I rarely forget now. It's a complete luxury when I find toilet paper in a stall.) The third thing I'm grateful to find in a restroom is soap. This is very rare. I think most Chinese people think that if they rub their hands together fast enough and long enough, the germs will run away. (I always keep hand sanitizer with me now. Another thing I'm grateful for.) Lastly, I'm grateful if their is a way to dry your hands after rubbing them vigorously under the water. Sometimes there will be an air dryer and on very rare occasions you'll find paper towels.

I'm grateful for our driver. I would have no idea how to get around without him. There is no way I could drive around China for several reasons. Number one, and probably most importantly, I can't read most of the street signs. They are written in Chinese. There is pinyin on some signs but not all signs. Number two, the crazy traffic patterns. There can be 3-4 lanes on one side of an intersection, and then when you go through the light, the amount of lanes will have decreased by 1-2 lanes. All of the cars just merge together as they cross the intersection. (There are no signs to warn you of this fact either. At least, none that I can read.) Also, something interesting in the traffic patterns are the left turns. At a lot of intersections there are 2 lights for left turns. Everyone stops at the line like we do in the U.S., but then there is a second line in the middle of the intersection. When the light for people to go straight turns green, the cars all pull up to the second line in the middle of the intersection. Then when the left turn light turns green, the cars make their left turns. These are two of the "organized" traffic patterns in China. I haven't even gotten into the people driving on the wrong side of the road, down the bicycle lane, and into pedestrians crossing crosswalks.

Next, I'm grateful for the crosswalks in the U.S. When you see the green light to cross in a crosswalk in the U.S., you know you can cross the road safely (most of the time). In China, when you get a green light to cross the street, the cars also get a green light to turn left across the crosswalk. You have to be extremely cautious when you cross the streets here. I've had several of my children almost get hit as they cross the streets on their bikes. I think we're starting to get the hang of crossing the street though.

I'm grateful that I can read. Living in China, has given me the opportunity to understand what it would be like to be completely illiterate. It has been difficult not being able to read product labels, street signs, store names, receipts, menus and contracts. (Just to mention a few things I can't read.) The contracts are translated into English, but I know the meanings are not always exactly the same. Also, our Ayi give me receipts at the end of each week so that I know how much money she has spent. Everything is in Chinese, except the numbers. So, I know how much she spends, but I have no idea what she's spending the money on. I'm trying to learn some Chinese characters, and our Chinese tutor will start teaching some to us as the school year starts.

I'm grateful for our Ayi. There is so much work to do here. For one thing, we don't have a dishwasher. I spend several hours each day doing dishes and even more on the weekends when our Ayi is off. Also, our washer and dryer are at least 1/3 the size they were in the U.S. Our Ayi does 4-5 loads of wash a day and I do just as many. Our Ayi mops the floors everyday as well.

I'm grateful for carpet. This is something I greatly miss in China. Almost all of our floors, including the stairs, are marble. We do have wood floors in some of the bedrooms and tile in the bathrooms. The only places that really have carpets in China are Hotels.

I'm grateful for clean drinking water. In China, no one, including the Chinese people, drink from the tap. Luckily, we have a filter on our kitchen sink. A lot of people use water bottles or have large bottles of water delivered to their home. People in China like to drink hot water. So, it can be difficult to buy a water cooler. You can buy a stand for the big bottles of water. It's just difficult to find one that can actually cool the water. So, I'm grateful for our water filter and fridge. We keep at least 2 pitchers of water in our fridge at all times.

I'm grateful for the weeds in Utah. Crazy, huh? Just hear me out. The thing is, I have no idea what is a weed here and what is a plant. In Utah, at least I knew what to pull and what to leave. The people before us planted some things. I hope I'm leaving the right plants in the ground and pulling the right ones out.

I'm grateful for technology. My kids have been able to visit with their friends on skype. We've been able to access netflix, amazon prime, hulu plus and several other movie networks through our Roku box. We've been able to keep in touch with our friends and family through facebook and this blog. We've been able to access church talks and manuals. Technology has definitely made this transition much easier.

I'm grateful for ice cream! The heat here is crazy! As we go places, we are sweating before we even get started. Every tourist sight in China has some form of ice cream or popsicle. I'm extremely grateful for this. Ice cream has helped us survive all of our adventures. It's amazing how quickly a cranky child (or adult) can calm down once they have ice cream.

I'm grateful for the opportunities this move has provided. My children and I are learning a language I doubt any of us would've ever attempted to learn without this move. Our family has seen things that I know we would've never seen without this move. My children are going to have the opportunity to attend an amazing school with children from all around the world. Boyd is getting to work at a job that he loves and work with people that he loves working with.

Overall, this is an amazing experience for our family. It has not been easy, and we have not always had bright sunny days (literally). But, we're making it through, and having fabulous adventures along the way.

Alauna